User reviews

I love movies from this timeperiod. They carry a vibe that's gone in modern day movies. Different camera action, less pace (even action movies) and a different psychology of the characters. TDO is not the best movie of it's genre, but Ford and Pitt bring a lot of weight to it. Pitt is charming as always, but is also convincing portraying a ruthless IRA commander. A decent script, lovely irish accents and convincing motives for the characters make this a nice movie for a sunday afternoon.

I say this making no pretense at completely understanding the Irish conflict myself (you'd have to ask someone with experience of Belfast for a more authentic take on the situation), but the irresponsible way the troubles were used here as a backdrop to what is supposed entertainment staggers me. It isn't as if it needed this detail; the terrorist could have been from any unspecified organisation. In the incompetent handling of sensitive issues that the makers really have no idea of, the production team involved in this really have let themselves down. Brad Pitt realised this too late and henceforth disowned the film, a fact which made me admire and respect him even more.

For this I wanted to hate the film, and yet found myself unable to. Beneath the misbegotten attempts at 'political comment', there is a decent little thriller struggling to get out. Pitt is great as the terrorist (dodgy accent aside) and Ford is as reliable as ever in the role of the honest cop. Director Pakula keeps the story moving at all times and stages the action well. Despite all these pluses, I constantly felt uncomfortable at the ways in which the script tried to manipulate my sympathies. While it's not quite enough to make me downgrade the film on an enjoyment level, it loses big points from an ethical perspective. Shame on you Tinseltown.

Brad pitt, harrison ford. Frankie lives in ireland, in the early 1990s, where the irish republican army is alive and well. When he comes to the u.s., now he's rory, and staying with o'meara, a cop. Rory is here on a mission to get weapons to be used back home. When the deal goes bad, it brings violence to o'meara's door. And he's a cop, so he's got to do something! Small role for treat williams. It's mostly really good. It gets a bit awkward towards the end, but can't say too much. It feels like some scenes were cut out. The trivia section talks about reshoots and multiple script issues, but for the most part, it's not bad! The last twenty minutes were a bit choppy but overall, good story. Directed by alan pakula. Was nominated for some huge films over the years. Story by kevin jarre. At one point during the film, pedestrians walk past rory, humming the theme to rocky; jarre worked on several "rambo" projects with stallone. Died young at 56.

I created an account just for this review, due to the low ratings others have given. I mean, it is not the best movie I've seen, but it is not that bad it should be given 1's, 2's, or 3's, etc. It is not an action movie nor a thriller, but there is still some of both in this movie. Yes, 'aye' is a bit overused, but you will get used to it very quickly. I think Brad and Harrison did a fine job here.

In the end I found it enjoyable to watch on a relaxing evening with a glass of whisky. Just 'a movie' to watch without a lot of triggers and explosions or overthinking scenes. I think people should give it a chance and ignore other reviews.

A thriller about an IRA gunman (Brad Pitt) who draws an American family into the crossfire of terrorism. Frankie McGuire is one of the IRA's deadliest assassins. But when he is sent to the U.S. to buy weapons, Frankie is housed with the family of Tom O'Meara, a New York cop (Harrison Ford) who knows nothing about Frankie's real identity.

Ford last appeared in a movie two years before this one in 1995's Sabrina (one of Ford's few financial flops) a remake of the 1954 film with its trio of stars, Audrey Hepburn, Humphrey Bogart, and William Holden. Before that he'd been on a good run with The two Jack Ryan movies (Patriot Games and Clear and Preset Danger) and The Fugitive.

Whilst Brad Pitt was starting to become the Mega Star he is hitting home runs with roles in Interview With A Vampire, Legends Of The Fall, Seven, 12 Monkeys and Sleepers.

You can see what attracted the stars to the movie as the premise is a good one, however once Ford was cast, it was decided to rewrite the script to make his character more central and the script wasn't finished when they started shooting. Ego clashes, budget overruns and long delays saw Pitt tried to walk away from the project. He settled for denouncing the movie as "the most irresponsible bit of film making – if you can even call it that – that I've ever seen." Upon it's release. The movies ending was reshot two days before it's release too.

As expected Ford and Pitt are the best things in this movie, and the parts where this movie works is because of them. It's a shame this was the last movie of Alan Jay Pakula because I like his work as a Director. Be it Klute, All The Presidents Men or Starting Over and Sophie's Choice he showed himself to be a good director.

Worth checking out at least once

It's an IRISH story! Great show, acting & story. Just a tad slow an lacking action/story a bit..

This film is just a second-rate thriller which uses Northern Ireland as a convenient backdrop to add colour. Unfortunately, the portrayal of Belfast and the terrorists and intelligence community is stereotypical, romanticised and hugely inaccurate. The gun battle at the beginning is just ludicrous and from then on the film becomes a showcase for nauseating Irish-American 'culture,' all blarney and dreaming of the 'oul country. The acting doesn't help as Ford sleepwalks and Pitt can't maintain the accent. It is possible to make good thrillers set in Northern Ireland which do not dodge the politics and have sensitivity, but none of them have been made by US production companies. 'Harry's Game' is by far the best example, devastatingly accurate closely followed by 'The Children of The North' and the black comedy 'Divorcing Jack' more recently. See these and give this Hollywood rubbish a miss.

As a child in Ireland, Frankie McGuire (Brad Pitt) sees his dad gunned down for his involvement with the Irish Republican Army (IRA). As an adult, McGuire has followed in his dad's footsteps. When the IRA decides it needs more firepower, they hatch a plan that involves McGuire going to the United States to pick up a shipment of Stinger missiles. Through American IRA contacts, McGuire adopts a false identity and housing is arranged with a non-involved Irish family headed by New York City cop Tom O'Meara (Harrison Ford).

There is an impression that The Devil's Own is an action film. The Internet Movie Database has it listed as "Action/Drama/Thriller". Although there are some action elements in the film, this is really a tragic drama, almost in a classical sense, and it's best to approach the film with only that genre in mind. The plot is fairly complex and the film tends to move slowly--much more slowly than a typical actioner or thriller.

The heart of the story is McGuire's relationship with O'Meara and his family. All of the other material--the IRA stuff, the mob and terrorist stuff, the New York City cop stuff, and so on, are not the focus. Those elements are present to help establish characterization, to build the relationship and understanding between McGuire and O'Meara, and to provide a justification for the developments in the film, and particularly the conclusion, which all have poignant things to say about the decisions that we make and why we make them.

The film largely succeeds if seen from this dramatic perspective. It's not quite a 10, however, as it always seems slightly distanced from the viewer. It's an 8 out of 10 for me.

(This comment was originally posted on January 16, 2005 and ended with the above. The following was added much later after reading through some other user comments:) We should not forget that even though it takes elements from the real world to construct its story, The Devil's Own is NOT intended to be journalistic or a documentary. There is no claim that it is giving an accurate portrayal of political situations, and it's not intended to campaign for one side or another in a real-world political situation. This is fiction, folks, and should be judged _as fiction_. For that, you should forget about what you know of the real world, and assess the story, images and sounds you experience from your television. Does the story work as a self-contained entity? Are the performances good? Is it visually attractive/rewarding? Those are the kinds of things we should be judging.

For me, The Devil's Own succeeded as a drama about relationships, with its poignancy arrived at primarily by making two people from very different worlds, with very different outlooks, learn to see things from different perspectives.

That's great if you're very knowledgeable about Northern Ireland in the real world and if you have strong opinions about terrorism. However, your knowledge and opinions on that stuff have nothing to do with this film.

Before 9/11, the subject of terrorism was never approached with any real vigor or understanding. For the most part, terrorists functioned as masses of bad guys for the hero to blow away in any number of ways. "The Devil's Own," a thriller heavily involving IRA terrorism, was made in 1997. Most likely this film wouldn't have been made post-9/11, and certainly not in the manner in which director Alan J. Pakula made it.

Frankie McGuire (Brad Pitt) is a notorious IRA terrorist who has been assigned to go to the US to pick up some stinger missiles. While there, he is staying with a family man (who also happens to be a cop) named Tom O'Meara (Harrison Ford). But Frankie runs into trouble with the gunrunner he's buying the missiles from (Treat Williams), putting both the lives of Frankie and Tom & his family in jeopardy.

The acting is solid. Harrison Ford has a pretty limited range, but when he's playing a role within that narrow window, he can be very effective. Tom O'Meara is not a complex part, and Ford is up to the task. There are certain similarities between Tom and President James Marshall from "Air Force One," but never mind. I've never been a Brad Pitt fan, but I have to admit, he has more talent than just being able to keep the tabloids salivating over his every move. Frankie (known to Tom and his family as Rory Devaney) is a charming, handsome man, but he's not against showing his brutal nature when the situation arises. He's a nice guy, but he's also very dangerous; Pitt never lets us forget that. Treat Williams is miscast as Billy Burke, the gunrunner. He tries to bring menace to the character by being one of those "pleasant" villains (the kind who mask their capacatiy for violence with an easygoing attitude). However, Williams isn't able to exude much menace this way. Ruben Blades is unmemorable as Diaz, Tom's partner, but Natasha McElhone is terrific as Frankie's contact, Megan.

"The Devil's Own" was the last film by Alan J. Pakula before he was killed in a tragic road accident. Pakula does does a solid job, although I have to question his handling of Frankie in the beginning. I've read some user reviews that claim that the film portrays IRA terrorists in a positive light, and doesn't do justice to the conflict. While I wouldn't go that far, I find some scenes rather unsettling because of concerns similar to this. Some of the scenes where Frankie and his cohort, Sean (Paul Ronan) are working on delivering the missiles are taken lightly, and are rather playful. This doesn't necessarily "hurt" the film (it builds sympathy for the character), but I think it was unwise to handle them in this way.

For a mainstream thriller, "The Devil's Own" is not as formulaic as one might think (save for the ending). We're never quite sure how the film is going to end up. But it's not perfect.

"The Devil's Own" is one of Hollywood's periodical ventures into the murky world of Irish politics. Harrison Ford, who stars here, had five years earlier starred in another such film, "Patriot Games". There is, however, a difference between the two films. "Patriot Games" is an action thriller which simply uses the Northern Ireland situation to provide a motivation for the bad guys; they happen to be Irish Republican terrorists, but they could equally well have been Islamic militants, or Russian spies, or Mafia hit-men, and it would have made little difference to the film. "The Devil's Own", by contrast, aims for something more ambitious.

The two main characters are Frankie McGuire, a member of the Provisional IRA on a mission to New York to purchase weapons, and his landlord Tom O'Meara, an Irish-American police officer. For about two thirds of the film Tom does not know that his lodger is an IRA man; indeed, he does not even know the young man's real name as Frankie is using the alias Rory Devaney. Tom is only enlightened towards the end of the film when he discovers in "Rory's" bedroom a bag containing millions of dollars. (Are the IRA so amateurish that they would entrust the money for their arms deals to a man who then leaves it under the bed in someone else's house?)

His discovery of the truth puts Tom in a difficult position. On the on e hand he disapproves of violence so cannot allow Frankie to go ahead with his plan to buy missiles for the IRA. On the other hand, he does not want any harm to come to the young man, so tries to protect him from the FBI and MI5 agents who are on his tail. (It is quite possible that the British security forces might set up hit squads to hunt down IRA men, but it seems highly unlikely that such squads would be permitted to operate on American soil with the full knowledge and cooperation of the US authorities).

There is also a sub-plot involving Tom's attempts to cover up for his partner Eddie, who has shot dead a criminal who was running from him. Tom tells his superiors that the man was armed, although he had already thrown away his gun before being shot.

I felt, however, that this sub-plot was never properly integrated into the main film. I was not surprised to discover that the film went through several rewrites after the original script was discarded, as it had the feel of a film written by a committee. Each member of the committee, moreover, appears to have had his or her own agenda. One member wanted to make an action thriller, a second wanted to make a political commentary on the Northern Ireland situation and a third wanted to make a character-driven psychological drama exploring Tom's ethical dilemma in having to choose between the demands of friendship and his obligation as a police officer to uphold the law. Eventually the chairman, who had the casting vote, ruled that the film would be a mixture of all three approaches.

There is, of course, nothing wrong with a film which attempts to work on several different levels. The trouble with "The Devil's Own" is that it doesn't really work on any of them. As an action thriller it is too slow moving, with most of the action crammed into the opening and the ending. As political commentary it is too obviously slanted towards a pro-IRA position with a misguided attempt to make Frankie a sympathetic figure. (That is perhaps only to be expected from Hollywood, particularly in its pre-9/11 period. Americans who approve of this should ask themselves how they would react to a British film which tried to glamorise Timothy McVeigh or the Unabomber). As a psychological drama it is dull and the Eddie subplot is never successfully integrated with the main action.

The film was turning out so badly that one of its main stars, Brad Pitt, wanted to leave the set and was only restrained from doing so by the threat of an injunction. Rather surprisingly, therefore, Pitt's performance is one of the better things about this movie. (His Irish accent, too, is quite convincing). He is certainly better than his co-star Harrison Ford who actually described this film as one of his favourites. Although Tom O'Meara is a role of the sort in which Ford normally excels- a decent, solid family man confronted with a crisis- his performance here is a dull, stodgy one, and not one of his best.

Overall, the film is a disappointment, despite its two major-league stars and its major-league director. This was the last film to be made by Alan J. Pakula before his tragic death a year later in a road accident. Pakula was responsible for some excellent films, notably "Sophie's Choice", so it is a shame that his career did not end on a higher note. 4/10

There seems to be a certain template for making "Oirish" movies in Hollywood. Add some or all of the following ingredients to your movie script - Aran Sweaters, a sub-Deliverance rural setting, comely maidens with red hair, a village idiot (teeth optional), impromptu céilís and dancing at the crossroads, priests, drunken violence and the obligatory "Ooh arr, begorrah" accents and you have an Irish film. And if you want some controversy, why not try to tackle the situation in Northern Ireland by adding in some IRA men for good measure. Unfortunately, the Devil's Own has quite a few of the aforementioned clichés in abundance.

It is a great shame that with a cast and director of this calibre, they couldn't have come up with something better. There have been very few, if any, decent films ever made about Northern Ireland and perhaps it's time Hollywood stopped trying to put forward its own take on it, especially when it is as cack-handed as The Devil's Own. Not only is the whole movie grossly offensive to Irish people, and anyone else with a brain, but it is a dangerous message to be sending out to gullible Irish Americans. It's time film-makers stopped buying into the idea that the IRA are noble warriors when in fact they and others of their ilk are terrorists, pure and simple.

Avoid this like the plague. Brad Pitt's accent is the least of the problems in this film. He just isn't convincing as the cold-blooded killer he is supposed to be - he's far too nice. Harrison Ford is his usual reliable self but too much of the movie is taken up with a largely irrelevant sub-plot featuring himself and Ruben Blades as his police partner. At times, The Devil's Own seems like an IRA film mixed up with NYPD Blue.

Frankie McGuire (Brad Pitt) is one of the IRA's deadliest assassins. But when he is sent to the United States to buy weapons, specifically Stinger missiles, Frankie stays with the family of Tom O'Meara (Harrison Ford), a New York police officer who is happily married to Sheila (Margaret Colin) with children , but all of them know nothing about Frankie's true identity. A surprising friendship emerges, but Tom's growing suspicions force Frankie to choose between the promise of peace or a life of murder. A man trapped by destiny and another bound by duty! They are about to discover why they are willing to fight and die. They come from different worlds. They fight for different causes. Now, two men from opposite sides of the law are about to go to war !.

An interesting thriller on the typical theme of hidden identity, as a police officer discovers the true identity of his guest in the house, a member of the I. R. A. Hidden terrorist. This is more of a detailed character study, trying to explore the reasons why the protagonists act the way they do, rather than the typical action movie. This is a good suspense drama devised by screenwriter Kevin Jarre (Glory) and well directed by Alan J. Pakula in which an interpretive duel is established between two of the biggest screen stars belonging to two different generations: Harrison Ford (Patriotic Games, Star Wars, Sabrina) and Brad Pitt (Seven, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Legends of the fall), the latter doing his usual job as an honest patrol cop who gets caught up in bad situations. Harrison Ford was paid $20 million to star in the film and Brad Pitt earned $12 million; the difference in salaries came because the status of first big star was higher for Ford who had recently played the successful Indiana Jones sequels, while Brad Pitt did not yet have the status that he would subsequently achieve. They are well accompanied by a good supporting cast with some familiar faces, such as: Margaret Colin, Rubén Blades, Treat Williams, George Hearn, Mitchell Ryan, David O'Hara and Natascha McElhone.

This features an evocative musical score by prestigious composer James Horner who strives to give the film a tone full of Irish sounds. Adding colorful and appropriate photography by the classic cameraman Gordon Willis who photographed The Godfather and other very important films. This gripping story was professionally directed by Alan J. Pakula, although it has some cracks and is a bit slow. Alan J. Pakula was chosen to direct because he was the only person both Harrison Ford and Brad Pitt agreed should do it, but it turned out to be the last film Pakula finished before his death caused by a car accident. This compelling American film director, writer and producer was nominated for three Academy Awards: Best Picture for "To Kill a Mockingbird" (1962), Best Director for "All the President's Men" (1976) and Best Adapted Screenplay for ¨Sophie's Choice¨ (1982). His producing business partner in the 1950s and 1960s was Robert Mulligan. Pakula was always very supportive of his cast and had a reputation as an "actor's director." He achieved several hits such as ¨The Devil's Shadow¨, ¨Pelican Report¨, ¨Presumed Innocent¨, ¨Sophie's Choice¨, ¨Klute¨ and some failures such as ¨Starting Over¨, ¨See You in the Morning¨ and ¨ The last witness¨ or ¨The Parallax View¨. Rating: 7/10. It is worth seeing and being better than average thanks to the magnificent performances of Harrison Ford and Brad Pitt.

Brad Pitt's accent hits the nail on the head for this film. Wonderfully written story behind top notch acting. The casted roles were perfectly put together. If you enjoy a good thriller then this one is for you! Never a dull moment as we race through New York City! A police officer harbors an IRA (Irish Republican Army) runaway without notice of his actual whereabouts...

No question there was a pretty impressive cast, but there really seemed to be something missing from this movie.

I'm not surprised Brad wanted to walk on this film, it shows surprisingly good judgement. Basically, when you get down to it, this is a fairly simple tale of conspiring circumstances which just seems to go astray. It starts out somewhat promisingly but, by the end, is nothing more than maudlin.

My vote, 6/10. Don't bother with this movie unless you have to or you're obsessed with Brad Pitt.

..."The Devil's Own" from 1997 isn't a great film.

Starring Harrison Ford, Brad Pitt, Treat Williams, Ruben Blades, and Margaret Colin, the story concerns a Northern Ireland IRA terrorist, Frankie McGuire, who comes to New York to buy weapons. Using the name of Rory Delaney, a judge, Peter Fitzsimmons puts him up at the home of an Irish cop, Tom O'Meara. O'Meara has no idea of Frankie's identity.

Rory has brought a ton of money with him and is supposed to make a deal with one Billy Burke (Williams). When he is told by his superiors in Ireland to hold off, Burke gets tough and wants the money. When Tom's house is robbed, his wife held at gunpoint, but nothing taken, Tom begins to wonder about his houseguest. With good reason.

Tom himself is having a crisis of conscience when he supports his partner Eddie (Blades) by lying about a shooting.

This could have been an excellent film, as it's about two men with completely different moral codes, both believing they're right. Frankie saw his father killed in front of him when he was eight years old, and this started him on the road to killings. Tom has drawn his gun only a few times in all the years he's been a police officer. The problem is that this is muddied by the script being somewhat pro-terrorism.

In today's climate, pro-terrorist films with sympathetic killers don't go over well. As someone pointed out, if this had been about someone from the Middle East partly responsible for 9/11 portrayed this way, it probably wouldn't be made.

Brad Pitt does a good job, despite some of his accent problems. Harrison Ford is solid but a little boring. The ending was the best part.

We don't hear much about the Irish conflict anymore, but years ago, many charities purportedly for Irish children were fronts for collecting money to support the IRA. My sister pointed this out to an Irish friend once, who was about to give such a charity some money, and she said, "So what?" So what? Terrorism isn't right, no matter which side resorts to it. It's understandable that Frankie/Rory had strong feelings, but there are other ways to deal with them.

Kind of annoying.

At the time i wrote this, The devil's own stood a 5.7 average. which totally baffled me. Brad Pitt delivers a great perfomance as frankie MgGuire (I love his accent and Ford does not get behind. Some great scenes with the irish folk music and the overall score is good.

Their may be some over sentimental moments, but they did not bother me for a second. then why such a low average? I'm clueless...

I would say this is a movie almost anyone will enjoy! I give it an 8.

Forget the 'truth' of the Irish problem.

Just enjoy the movie on an 'as is' basis.

Brad Pitt rarely puts in a 'performance'. Happily neither he nor Harrisson Ford are playing a 'star' in this cops and terrorists caper.

Stay at the level of the director's pitch of the movie. Enjoy the plot, the nuances of the characters, the interplay of the characters.

And at an enjoyable level without any 'highbrow' attitude.

The dialogues are straight, to the point and stick to the story line.

This movie is great to 'pass the time' and still commendable for 'decent performances from good actors'.

This is a very mediocre movie, and a bad sign-off for Alan J. Pakula (who died a year later in 1998 from a car crash). Listen to Brad Pitt's awful accent for a few moments and you'll get a clear idea that this film is going nowhere.

It caused some controversy on release because of its simplified view of the IRA/Britain terrorism and some people (particularly Europeans I suppose) took offense to the fact that Brad Pitt's character is given a "motive" for what he does... and the film seems to sympathy with him.

Brad Pitt hated the film and Harrison Ford and him battled on set over who would become the focus of the film itself (apparently Pitt became upset because the script was re-written and his character was given less screen time).

I only recommend it to people who haven't seen many movies. Why? Because then the recycled dialogue, characters, plot, and performances may seem fresh.

But as it stands, "The Devil's Own" is a poor example of mediocre film-making. Or is that a "good" example of mediocre film-making? Whatever it is, the film is not anything special, and certainly not anything that hasn't been done before.

I liked Brad Pitt before watching this (and yes I had never seen this before, which amazed me a bit myself), but the amount of work he obviously put into this, with the accent and all that - incredible. Harrison Ford plays the good strong american guy, who you know is the savior and all that stuff. Some may find this a bit too much and may feel other flaws appearing here.

Overall it is an engaging story and Brad Pitt gives the character some layers that he needs. It would be tough otherwise to remotely feel anything for him. But will he be able to escape his past or his future? He has a clear objective, but it becomes also clear that it ain't that easy to follow through with it. And then there is police work in general and other stories that intertwine. Overall they work and add to the tension of the movie and the characters arc - some may feel different of course, feel this is a bit convoluted. That'll be in the eyes of the beholder ...

A lot of commentators have criticised this film for not being an accurate portrayal of the situation and/or intricacies of the situation in Northern Ireland. I'm no expert and it goes without saying that this is probably the case; but that's not the point of this film and I don't think the director was really trying to say too much about it.

The film is about the two main characters played by Pitt and Ford, both introduced in black and white and both of whose lifetime ideals and principles are challenged and blurred by their experiences through the film.

We have Pitt, the hardened terrorist whose own father was murdered in front of him when he was a child, who's known nothing but hatred and a distrust of authority through his life and who's suddenly immersed into an alien environment of stability, family and a cop who he sees is both a pretty normal, hardworking and good guy. In this different environment he realises that there's more to life then what he's known and Ford becomes to him something of a father figure.

At the same time, Ford a principled, honest as the day is long cop finds himself having to compromise his own integrity in the name of friendship and loyalty to a colleague as he realises life isn't quite so black and white as he's always lived it and struggles to deal with his own indiscretion.

Consequently as he finds out more about Pitt he struggles to juggle his professional and personal judgement as he finds a degree of sympathy towards Pitt trying to understand his background and the inevitability of his circumstances. Naturally the two come to a head and in this regard the film is pretty good despite any shortcomings with regards to the accuracy of the Northern Ireland situation.

Some of the film certainly appears a little far fetched in places and I'd suspect that it's not so easy to purchase a batch of Stinger missiles from the local small time mobster while the fate of Pitt's sidekick seemed little more than pointless. Sure this might not be award winning stuff, but I don't know why Pitt disowned this film and hope it wasn't done out of political correctness or being overly-sensitive to criticism (I'll settle for death threats).

Enjoyable and entertaining thriller/action film that doesn't over do the action.